Method and apparatus for manipulating vulcanizing devices



H. R. GILSON AND G. F. FISHER.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANIPULATING VULCANIZING DEVICES.

APPLHATKON FILED JUNE 24.1920.

Patented Aug. 1, 1922.

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Tcallwhoms'tmay concern.' Be it known that we and Gsoaon F. Frenzen, United States, residing i l county of Westchesteryandistate of NewA York, and Providence Lcoun `ofplfrovudence, and State offRhod nd,{1resp'ec tivel have invented new .use-jful m rovemen i'n' Agp: .r Mani ulating ."Vulcnliiz.ing`

vices, of which e followingis afull'gclear, and exact description. -r A. 'K ,v i

This invention relates to themanniacture of rubber articles such as tires, andg particularly'to amethod and .a params for'.manip-v ulating or shifting Vmol 1n couneotionwlth vulcamzing operations.

In the mamma@ of fine, te. ntegreample, the molds in whichfthey are cured are reinoved from the heaters or vulcanxzers, transferred to stations or other, convenientplaces for substituting an uncuieditirein place of the cured tire, and-subsequently returned to the heaters. perfo these operations it is usual to employ su labor saving devicesas trucks 'orconveyors. Heretofore this transporter movement of the molds has been' performed'voiitheoor.' of a larleomom and, to'distin'gllish-or-` differs entiate erations ma horizontal p ane. Without as to the apparatus used in e pas 4the prior practices in this pleit of tire' manu aeture ere either objections le or undesirable, 'for the. reasonthat horizontal shift or transport of m the present in veiitiom-thesqop#v Abe said to have occurred-ma ing into Vdetail the molds in servngtbe heaters as welll as in recharging the individual molds remres' -011 *a t deal of door ace. With tru til? P e devices,- interthe operators ereof is not in-v With horizontal conve or sys. number of, caniners labor saving llftin ference of frequent.

tems in which a large Vare served by a. s le conveyor.` unita mishap to any part of e latter is liableto hold up working the heaters to their maximum capacity and consequently is a constant source of anxiety. 5

The present invention relates to 'a method and apparatus forV manipulatin molds with a minimum of door space.' t urther aims to group vulcenizing ap status in a series of independent units so t at mishap or acciboih dem 10ft ce1 at NewiBoohelle,

, the

is comprises presses; andv 'open-to vplaten 2 dent to anyone unit will not afl'eot the others andvwill notrender the whole force of oper etives idle d `the time lost'in remedyingfthe defect. L t aims-to devise a method and arrangeme y movements' oftheoperatives will be .avoidede Andv iinitlly it endeavorsf'to attain these' severallends without Aloes of time in t in which interference of' the intenval between .cures when the heaters Aare`11nlntd-ed and reloaded.

.the illustrated embodiment of the- `invention in lmind and-in order to 've a 'neral idea-.0f the invention but without fmtentin to limit or restrict `the scope thereof,V the.. apparatus 'may be described brietly la serieso upright French ped' ram's vor elevators uped compaetly-` or service with a crane `t tjl'nay 'following detailed descri tion o drawings,A in w ich y -`is a. section of theapqaratuson the line 1;1 of Fig. 2in which atterthe relf ative arran ent of the parte or. compo' nente is il nsti-ated' diagrammatically. i y In the embodiment of the invention' illustrat'edin the drawings, four resses or vulcanizers are indicated by t e numeral 1. These are of the Frencht e a lower operable hydrau ically within ,an ulxlllght cy inder or casing 3 whose mouth, vv 'ch is above the door 4, is closed'b 'a cover 5 equi ped with any 'suitable Afa devices or locking` it in place. When oaded. and lifted, the cover may have its eye 6 engaged with a hook 7 on a trolley or'carriage 8 shiftabl sup ortedV .by an I-beam 8 and itmay pus ed to an unthe accombstructing position at oneside of the heate 1 fromone to another in rtrensfeifling molds in whole or in sections.V

, "are the objects of ournvention, Vand other'obiects-thereof will a pear-in the piemonte, by lifted without undue manual exertions.

properly on the platforms of the elevators he floor 4 is suitably 'apertured as indicated at 14 to pass the platforms.

As many presses or vulcanizers and elevators or rams may be used as desired. These ma -be disposed in'an suitable geometrical ormation, preferab y, however, as

shown in a hexagonal arrangement about a .pivoted' crane 15 whose lateral arm 16 is equi ped with atrolley- 17 and de nding taeklia and tongs 18,.or.other suits le imwhich the heavy molds may by the operators. The crane may be swung by a handle'manuall' but wer may used if desired, to bring its ateral arm 16 above and in line with one ofthe presses or elevators for servicein shifting molds abou' t.

While the number of presses and elevatorsmay be varied as desired, it is preferred tu use two elevators, as shown, between'pairs of presses, one elevator as a receiving sta tion to care for the molds that have been through a heat, and the other elevator as va supply station from which the molds may be taken immediately a vulcanizer has been emptied. But while the number and arrangement of the presses andelevators'ma'y 4this purpose'.

, intermittentllys be varied as 'desired, the unit illustrated has been foundsatisfacto for keeping the minimum number o operatives busy throughout their shift. Y.

Assuming that the heat on o'ne of the ressee has -been run, the method of proceure with the apparatus is as follows:

The press isl opened 4and its cover moved to an unobstructing position at one sido with theaid of the hook 7 and trolley 8, but obviously other means ma be used-for Then the mo ds with .the cured tires inside are successively removed 4with the crane. and its adjuncts to one of the elevators, the platen of the press an'd the plat-form ofy the elevator being moved `up and down respectively at a sow rate, or to allow the operative to shift the mo ing' and at an elevation substantially the same in eve case. When all of the cured tires-in` mol s have been removed, a batch ofy molds prevouslycharged with uncured be many faces, l.the

,erritml vill .P 4cycle of o eations.

in the clear space interven' side'down', and filledwith'jn may in the-time interval interv before a second one'of the p comp etes its heat now spend their time in substituting an u ncured tire' for a in the ysevera molds of those' that have 'been stacked on one of the elevators. recher operation of jthe. molds -may .be perform in any` suitable manner.- Advantageously with the'apparatus-shown it may be doneV by successively theseveral sections of each ofthemolds 'from one eleva.-`

tor -to the other-. Suppoeingthatthe molds are .ofthe usual two-p ece construction with complementary Vo curves' in their ,section is lifted up and transferred tot e second elevator, now

.em t on which it is placed u side down amllille d with an uncured tire w le a cured tire or article is being removed lfrom the ex posed .lowerphalf` section 'of the mold and passed to a gravity run-way or conveyor 19, convenienti located to one side of a series of units e uncured tires-ma be supplied in any suitable` manner as y aconf veyor or' trucksto 4the supplyV station or second elevator. l1`he'bot'tom mold' section, now empty, is then transferred to the Becond elevator, orsupply station, and' laced upside down -on itsmatin half. us a hold is emptied and reiille and transferred from one station to the other.A A second mold issimilarly opened,emptied and re- Vfilled1 the staolrof molds on one elevator deore and on the other elevator increasing until they have all` been transferred 4from one to the other and the elevation of the.

uppermostfmold .of 'a' stack being .kept conetant, or nearly so h suitably controlling the emissies-of sui w the mer ne, vatorsf By this timel the lheat onv s eccolid of the p :om will have run and the While -e fo ing methodiadeemedthe preferable way to utilise the a paratus, it is ,mbe distinctly understood; jat the im vention in the apparatus-'isgod conned to such procednre.='ltmiy be desirable Vfor some urposeeto discha the-molds from a hea r after fthecure beex'rrnnv onto one t of `thejs,elevators; `lThen a; has been ti'ed in thisY manner, theuppe'r another" `lili tion'ot 'e top'mbxet'moldmayabetransferred immediately` into tlresameheater, up tire, the cured-'tie-infthe meantime being removed from 4lower section of,

the same mold.' The lower-'section may then be 'shiftedv and invertedfuPOn its mating half, resting on the platen of the prees. By repeating these operations, the stack of A cured molds maybe unloaded and the heater reloaded with tires llingvthe molds.

From the above description, it will be seen that the apparatus comprises 's com- `inelastic l ace with expansion vor increase ofproduc on, that competition between crews of several units may be induced to increase the daily output and reduce the of production, that thennits are independent of one another and hence mishap y'or trouble with one is not accompanied by an. Imagsirableidleness of all hands ein loy inthe vulcanizing room, several batches of moldsy are moved a vminimum in the n manipulation thereof..

t is to be understood,however, that the inventionvis not limited in any way to the precise detailso construction or the method vof procedure shown and"deeci'ilried,A excepting as indicated by claims, to which reference should be understanding of its scope.

the accompanying we claim and deire to protect by Letters Patent isz' 1. A vulcanizing lygonal arrangement tors having vertically movable and means for themol from the p4 and e evators.

2. A vulcanizng unit comprisin a Vpolygonal arrangement of p +r.: 'an `elevators having verticallgsmovable platforms, e. licor near themout of said preeses, and

unit corilpi'isin apc-v of ps an elevasatforfms,

to 'and means"for shifting the molds to end fr'om' molds in vulcanizng arti the p and elevators. 8.,Atpparatus of the classdescribed in eludinga press having its inoutli' adjacent a iloor level, movable lplatforms for supj-j rraned in triangular relation, a lvoted crane or serving the press and p tforms, and means for moving .the crane platf forms and press relative to-one lanother-to maintain the 'uppermost of molds dsacl'ned on the platforms 'at substantially "a constant elevation with the crane is facilitated,

4. Apparatus of th class described including upright p and elevators dia rting molds, -said press and .platfo `for manning by a few opera.

ically as distinguished permits 7.

rality 0f Prish madeffor an whereby manipulation of' .Apparatus of the class described com'- p Q upright vulcanizers and elevators in polygonal formation, the' ace above'the mouths. of the and a ve the latforms of the sfera l clear o obstructions tothe transfer of tlie molds.f1fom one to the other. l

6. A. unit comprising a hex agcnal arrangementl of pa 'and elevators of which'latter there lare at least two, fand a 4pivoted crane distance from the vulcanisont` dur- ,andelevatora i centrally of and capable of serving each' of said p `if. A manning uint mfrising s piu'- M t p an4 elevators the lfti'mei' of which exceed thefl'atter in numi" a rains operable from beneath' the 5r maintaining the;upperinost of molds stacked in the p and on the elevators Having thus described our invention, what' ata convenientelevation, anda central piviloor adjacent the mouths of'the Yso member Vfor facilitatinghifting the molds to and from 'the pressesand elevators aii'dbetween the elevators,

8. A method of manipulating molds which includes inovingthe moldso a batch there'- of containing cured and uncured articles in substantially horizontal and verticali paths to vempty and load vulcanizers, 'and similarly movin the sections ofythe 'mold piece byv piece w e emptying and `rechaigin the several molds.

.-.A method of manilang sectional es' which includes invingimol from a vulcaniur after cur- .'in`g the articles therein' and stacking-them at astatiomloadin the emptied vulcanizer v with previously lil ed molds,V substitutin uncured for the cured articles in the stacked `iiiolds'vifhile shifting and restacking the during the shitin thereof. at 'Provi s ed me, Rhei island, this 17thda of'June 1920.

' l y -ENRY R. cinefili.4

GEORGE F. FISHER. 

